Week 3 Prompt

1. I am looking for a book by Laurell K. Hamilton. I just read the third book in the Anita Blake series and I can’t figure out which one comes next!

Answer: You just finished reading Circus of the Damned (1995).  The next book in the series is The Lunatic Café (1996).

2. What have I read recently? Well, I just finished this great book by Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer. I really liked the way it was written, you know, the way she used language. I wouldn't mind something a bit faster paced though.

Answer:  Here are several titles you might enjoy:

Anthill by Edward O Wilson,

Next of Kin by Joanna Trollope

A Rhinestone Button by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

The Loop by Nicholas Evans

3. I like reading books set in different countries. I just read one set in China, could you help me find one set in Japan? No, not modern – historical. I like it when the author describes it so much it feels like I was there!

Answer: You might like:

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet (Jun 2010) by David Mitchell (David Stephen). 

Here is a description from Novelist:  In Dejima in Nagasaki Harbor, 1799, the Japanese Empire's single port and only window on the world, a resourceful young clerk, Jacob de Zoet, has five years to earn a sufficient fortune to win the hand of his wealthy fianćee back in Holland. But Jacob's intentions are eclipsed after a chance encounter with the daughter of a samurai doctor.

4. I read this great mystery by Elizabeth George called Well-Schooled in Murder and I loved it. Then my dentist said that if I liked mysteries I would probably like John Sandford, but boy was he creepy I couldn't finish it! Do you have any suggestions?

Answer: You might want to try:

         Still Life by Louise Penny

         The Man with a Load of Mischief by Martha Grimes

         Cover Her Face by P. D. James

5. My husband has really gotten into zombies lately. He’s already read The Walking Dead and World War Z, is there anything else you can recommend?

Answer: He might like to read:

Zombies: shambling through the ages (Jul 2013)

Zombies: the recent dead (Oct 2010)

Zombies hate stuff (Mar 2012)

Second, after you get a chance to do the readings and explore Mary Chelton's list of tools, I want to hear about how you find books to read. It could be a site or a resource you've just discovered or one you've used for years, one you use for yourself or for your patrons or family and friends.

Answer: I find out about new fiction books in three ways:  I peruse the “New” shelves at my library, I receive the free eletter from GoodReads.com, and I regularly read through the Library Journal and New York Times Book Review (paper editions).

Week 3 - Annotated Book

Child, Lee. A Wanted Man: A Reacher Novel. New York: Delacorte, 2012. Print.

Summary:

Reacher is in Nebraska unsuccessfully trying to hitch a ride with a broken nose until two men and a woman pick him up.  They are on the way to Chicago.  Reacher is going to Virginia.  He can easily pick up a bus in Chicago.  Along the way, they let him, the hitchhiker, drive.  They pass two roadblocks.  When the two men fall asleep the woman communicates with Reacher that she is kidnapped. But as the story unfolds the kidnap is only one small part of a larger story of murder and criminal conspiracy. The FBI and its counter terrorism unit, the CIA, and the State Department become involved.  Reacher becomes a wanted man and finds a way to execute justice.

Genre: Suspense

The suspense genre maintains a clear distinction between the good people and the bad people.  Lives are at stake in the conflict between good and bad.  Suspense appeals to those who like a novel that is character or plot-driven; has an intensifying story line; and violence or threat of violence.

Appeals: Plot-driven; fast paced or intensifying; suspenseful and violence.

If you like A Wanted Man you will like:

Abbott, Jeff. Adrenaline. New York: Grand Central, 2011. Print.

Atkins, Ace. The Lost Ones. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2012. Print.

Connelly, Michael. The Black Echo. Waterville, Me.: Thorndike, 2001. Print.

Hunter, Stephen. The Third Bullet: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013. Print.

Siegel, Sheldon. The Terrorist next Door: A David Gold Mystery. Scottsdale, AZ: Poisoned Pen, 2013. Print.

Week 2 - Genres

I will be working on the following Genres:

Week 3 - Suspense

Week 7 - Science Fiction

Week 8 - Women's Lives

Week 11 - Fantasy

Week 14 - GLBTQ

Week 2 - Reader Profile

Reader Profile:

I have on one of my book shelves the following words framed:

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.  Well, I don’t think I have a problem per se, but if I did it would be this:

Bib’li-o-hol’ism (Gr biblion) n. (Biblio + holism) books, of books: the habitual longing to purchase, read, store, admire, and consume books in excess.

When folks perusing my stacks find this, I often get a glance, a raised eyebrow, and sometimes a questioning smile.  My response is usually, “We’ve never missed a meal or mortgage payment or any other kind of payment and, yes, my wife is fine with this.”  

I am drawn to a wide variety of genres. I enjoy historical fiction, westerns, science fiction, literary fiction, spy novels, and certain kinds of thrillers.  My most recent 

Authors I have read lately:

Louis L’Amour - Hondo

Wally Lamb – The Hour I First Believed

Barbara Kingsolver – Flight Behavior

Jan Karon – Mitford Series

Susan Howatch – Glittering Images

Lee Child – Jack Reacher novels.  I am reading them in order and have just finished “The Affair.”

I read fiction for several reasons.

1.     I want to be entertained.

2.     I want to escape from my present “issues and concerns” and be engrossed in someone else’s “issues and concerns.”

3.     I want to live vicariously through a particular character. 

4.     I want to learn about myself through interacting with the story and characters.

5.     I want to learn about a particular time period.

For the last two years, I have been keeping track of the books I read and summarizing them and writing favorite quotes on an excel sheet I created.  My last class in the MLS program was Youth Materials taught by Annette Lamb.  She had us keep a log of our reading for the class on either Good Reads or Library Thing.  I created a Good Reads account and am going to stick with that.  I like doing book reviews and through Good Reads people can read my reviews and summaries.

Years ago I was paid to write Book Reviews for the Dallas Morning News.  Gosh, that was fun.  I earned Starbucks money AND I got to keep the book.  How cool is that!?

Week 2

The video Teen RA Interview could have been a instruction video on how to approach a customer in a retail situation.  The only thing missing was leading the patron to the check out kiosk to ring up the sale.  The librarian approaches the patron and starts with a general question.  When he sees that she is willing to engage he begins to ask questions that grow more specific.  Based on her responses, he makes a few suggestions by pulling out the book and telling her a bit about the book.  He demonstrates that he knows his "stock."  He was helpful without hovering.  He approached without being overbearing. And, when his task was clearly done, he left without hovering. 

I found the contrast between the two libraries Reader Advisory pages interesting.  The two different pages indicate that the online questionnaire can be brief or detailed.  I was drawn to the simplicity and brevity of the West Bloomfield Township Public Library.  One reason is that I want to be surprised by suggestions.  I found the online service interesting because of its anonymity and the fact that it can be filled out and received when the library is not open.  

I think recommending titles is a challenge.  While it is less work for the patron, I think it would be more difficult to make suggestions without a clearer sense of reading history.  West Bloomfield only requires one title for favorite author and one title for book enjoyed.  I think it would be very easy to suggest titles that the reader has already read.  However, it does help to have the reader check the boxes that describe what kind of material the reader wants.  

Williamsburg Regional Library requests considerably more detail.  I am certain more questions could be asked, so it is not exhaustive, but I was nearly exhausted by looking at all that I would have to fill out.  However, since the librarian does not have the luxury of asking quick follow up questions or sensing mood or judging reactions as we do in face to face encounters, the more details sought in the beginning may very well lead to a more satisfying list for the reader.  I particularly liked the "peaves/pleasures"and "content" sections.  The answer choices of "include or avoid" allows the patron to state strong preferences.

Along the same lines as seeking details, the questionnaire also requires five books liked and even allows for reasons why.  Space is also given to state books not liked and to state why.  The result is that even though this questionnaire is online it seeks information that allows the librarian to be intuitive about what the reader is wants based on history and explanation.   

Did anyone else find the "length" question amusing?  I think it is hilarious that the question about length preferences is so short that one has to click to lengthen it.

Week 1 readings - brief comments

From the Power Point Presentation I found it helpful to know how the Readers Advisory has changed over the years.  Once upon a time, librarians understood themselves as educators and recommended books that were part of the classical heritage.  Librarians sought to educate the patrons.  Now, librarians develop reader advisories in order to serve as a link.  Librarians provide opportunities for readers to be connected with books they want to read.

From Chapter 1 of Sarick's Genre Fiction I was struck by the clever insight to organize a reader's advisory around elements of appeal.  On page 7 she lists the six elements of appeal: "pacing, characterization, story line, frame and setting, tone and mood, and language and style."  Then on page 4 she groups the genres in four appeal groups: Adrenaline Genres, Emotions Genres, Intellect Genres, and Landscape Genres.

The brilliance of organizing the readers advisory around appeal is that the person who likes the fast paced book, can be encouraged to approach book titles that are listed as adventure, romantic suspense, suspense, and thrillers.  This way readers get to meet new authors and characters and expand their reading experiences beyond the genre they are used to.  It's the appeal, not the category.

Week 1

Here is my blog.  To be filled in later.
Jeff